Mikel Arteta reveals unlikely Arsenal star's wild idea to replace injured Kai Havertz
Arsenal's injury woes worsened when Kai Havertz suffered a hamstring injury on the Gunners' warm-weather training camp in Dubai but William Saliba has put an offer forward to his manager
Mikel Arteta has battled against injuries all season - and now even his wifi can't make it through 90 minutes any more.
Internet connection problems prevented the Arsenal boss from seeing the goal that might just swing the title race his way. Liverpool were seconds away from opening up a nine-point lead on the Gunners on Wednesday night.
But James Tarkowski's last-gasp Everton equaliser meant the red half of north London still has hope. Arteta said: "It was a funny one because I lost connection in that moment. I was watching the iPad and I lost the connection."
The Gunners travel to Leicester on Saturday knowing they cannot afford to drop points against the relegation strugglers. A warm-weather break in Dubai worked wonders last season although a stellar winning run wasn't enough to pip Manchester City.
READ MORE: Jamie Carragher, Thierry Henry and Micah Richards all brutally called out by Kate ScottREAD MORE: Aston Villa vs Liverpool match request rejected by Premier League as club left 'frustrated'This time they jetted back with the news that Kai Havertz was out for the season with a torn hamstring. At a time when fellow attackers Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Jesus and Gabriel Martinelli won't be available any time soon either. Arteta recalled the moment when he realised Havertz had been hurt.
He said: "He was going to stop a shot after a set-piece, he stretched the leg and he felt his hamstring. Big pain in the tummy, that's the first feeling. When you see a player in pain, obviously it's a really bad feeling.
"Then you feel like 'not again' and then you realise you have no time to do that. Start to look at alternatives and how the team is going to be able to continue to perform."
So who is left fill the Havertz-sized gap? The smart money is on Leandro Trossard being thrust in as a false nine, with widemen Raheem Sterling and teenager Ethan Nwaneri offering support on the flanks.
Arteta revealed he was contemplating another option - defender Saliba's offer to play up front as a target man! "He said: ‘I’ll play as striker,’ Willy always says. ‘I’ll play.’ Willy is so funny. Straight away it was one of his reactions. It’s true as well that he played there. He used to score a lot of goals. But probably a lot of players played there when they were younger."
Arteta knows he will need a significant turn of fortunes when it comes to injuries for the rest of the season. Much has been said about an over-loaded playing calendar - Arteta regards the fixture list as a ticking timebomb.
He said: "We have players that have been injured that have played 130 games in the last two seasons. So at the end it's an accident waiting to happen if you continue to load and load and load.
"It's the season, it's the accumulation of that, it's the stress of that, it's the luck, it's the preparation, it's the methodology. There are a lot of factors and very difficult to point out as something but obviously the schedule that is planned is super demanding and for certain players, especially the explosive players, it becomes a real issue."
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